This invention relates to a pipe baffle and installation assembly for a sewage tank.
Private sewage disposal systems generally comprise a sewer line, a septic tank, and an absorption field. Sewage washed or flushed into the line enters the tank via one or more inlet pipes. The pipes, usually 4", may be cast-iron, solvent-welded plastic, self-sealing vitrified clay tile, tapered-joint fiber, or self-sealing cement-asbestos. The septic tank holds the solid matter of the sewage so that it may settle and be disintegrated by bacteria. The tank may be precast concrete, asphalt-coated steel, concrete block, redwood, clay tile, brick or plastic. The tank's outlet or outlets, lower than the inlet to keep sewage from backing up into the sewer line, deliver septic tank effluent to drainage lines or seepage pits. Drainage lines are laid in trenches and positioned so that septic tank effluent water can drain away; seepage pits are porous, open-bottomed tanks fed through lines like those in a trench-type absorption field.
Cesspools may take the place of septic tanks in private disposal systems. The difference between a cesspool and a septic tank is that a cesspool does not make any provision for the breakdown and treatment of sewage. Cesspools are simply collecting tanks that permit raw sewage to be leached into the ground.
Whatever the type of sewage disposal system, the inlet and outlet pipes to the tank may be baffled to vent the lines, prevent splashing, and keep scum from floating out.